Eat healthy this Halloween - for your teeth's sake!

Concerned about your trick-or-treater’s dental health this Halloween? Here’s a good idea:

Mini-carrots.

Pitch the Everlasting Gobstoppers, Laffy Taffies, Reese’s Pieces and Chewy Sprees and allow your children to only eat mini-carrots. It will solve the problem and they will thank you one day.

If they ever stop hating you.

But since a sugar-free Halloween is as likely in most households as splattered-pumpkin-guts-free driveways are in most neighborhoods, dental advice is at a premium at this time of the year.

"I let my kids partake, but we’re careful about what we keep and what we toss," said Dr. Laura Donlan, a Peoria, Ill., dentist who only sees children. "You need to stay away from the sticky stuff (like Starburst fruit chews) that can stay in the grooves of the tooth. And from candy like Ring Pops because they’re meant to be used like a pacifier and that really increases the amount of time the sugar is in contact with the teeth."

A study mentioned by the Delta Dental Plans Association showed an average bag of Halloween candy contained 3 cups of sugar. And sugar is the enemy of Mr. Tooth, though in a way that might surprise. It’s not the sugar itself that rots teeth, rather what the sugar becomes in the mouth.

Imagine an unswallowed bit of Bit O’Honey nestling into a nook or cranny (quick question, what’s the difference?) in a human mouth. If it’s not removed by brushing, flossing or rinsing, ever-present bacteria in the mouth feed on the sugar and turn it into acid. We’ll let Dr. Thomas Devlin of Peoria take it from there.

"The acidic environment in the mouth attacks tooth enamel and can cause holes, cavities, in teeth," Devlin said. "If after you eat candy you swish water in your mouth and spit it out and if you brush really good after that then that will be helpful."

There are ways to minimize the temptations of candy.

Dr. Dino Mantis, a Chicago dentist who has written on the topic of Halloween candy and teeth, suggests eating dinner before trick-or-treating to make less room for candy later. Also hiding and rationing candy keeps it out of sight and out of mind. And he suggests offering to exchange the candy for something else the child wants — a game, a movie or another toy.

"By taking the candy entirely out of the equation you prevent all the hassle of dentist visits and other accompanying problems," he wrote in "A Big Bag of Tricks: How to Minimize Halloween Cavity Damage." "Allow the child to pick a few treats but then take the candy to your office, school or even a food bank."

Binging on Halloween candy can do harm to a child’s mouth in ways beyond tooth decay. Gummy candies and taffies can mangle orthodontic work and dislodge crowns, caps and fillings. The day after Halloween is typically busy at the orthodontist’s office. Dr. Donlan remembers a kid coming in the day after Halloween for some emergency cap work.

"He had bitten into some sort of taffy apple sucker and a cap came off," Donlan said. "The good news was that he didn’t lose it or swallow it or anything. He just brought the sucker in and the cap was still embedded in it."

Like any activity, Devlin preaches moderation when it comes to snacking on sugary treats.

"My personal view is it’s great to be a kid and to have candy at Halloween," Devlin said. "But nowhere is it written that a parent must allow a child the opportunity to sit down and eat his way through a bag of Halloween candy."